THE AMERICAN PILOT WHO SHOT DOWN AN AMERICAN PLANE

I saw this story and thought it must be fake, but after researching it, I found that it is true and amazing.

            Louis Curdes wanted to fly, so he joined the Army Air Force in 1942.  He was stationed in North Africa where he was in a P-38 Lightning squadron.  He quickly shot down enough German planes to become an ace.  In August, 1943, he shot down an Italian plane.  It was his 7^th kill.   Later, he himself was shot down by a German pilot and he crashed in Italy and was put in a prison camp.  A few days later, Italy surrendered and Curdes escaped to American lines.  He was sent home, but insisted in getting back into combat.  He was assigned to a P-51 Mustang squadron in the Pacific.  He called his plane “Bad Angel”.  He shot down a Japanese reconnaissance plane to become one of only three American pilots to shoot down planes from all three of the Axis.  On one mission hie formation of four were searching for Japanese targets on the ground.  One of the pilots spotted a Japanese airfield and he and his wingman attacked.  The wingman was shot down and parachuted into the ocean.  Curdes arrived on the scene and saw a C-47 cargo plane preparing to land on the airfield!  Curdes tried to warn it, but could not make radio contact.  He tried flying in front and waggling his wings, but the C-47 kept going.  Knowing the crew and passengers were doomed to Japanese captivity if he didn’t do something drastic, he shot out one of the engines and then the other.  The C-47 was forced to land in the ocean.  The crew and passengers got into a life raft.  Amazingly, the American pilot was nearby and joined them in the raft.  Running low on fuel and with night falling Curdes had to wait until the next day.  He escorted a PBY flying boat to the location and all the survivors were picked up.  Curdes was shocked to find that one of them was a nurse Svetlana Valeria.  They had gone on a date two nights earlier.  As you can guess, they got married in 1946 and lived happily ever after.

https://www.gijobs.com/pilot-shot-down-american-plane/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Edward_Curdes

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/louis-curdes-shot-down-german-japanese-italian-american-planes.html?firefox=1